New(s) Breifs ?

Laughing at my brother's post the other week, this news-brief caught my attention. It's sort of funny but kind of makes some sense.
_____________________________________________________________

Looking at BBC news, which I think is great, you can click on the countries that you want to find the latest news and headlines. It's interesting to look at America and see headlines like the the one above, technology and how to stay safe from hackers, and how money talks. Then you can read about the latest fad, spoiled toothpaste, ect ect. It's quite interesting to then link to other countries and read headlines like: Army 'kills' Nigerian militants, Mass rescue of 'slaves' in China, or various others. It's true, I can pick and choose what headline I decide to link and maybe there are everyday life things in these other countries that are just as senile or even beautiful like those in America.


My 'good friend' stated today that "all blogs are bias" ...I must agree. So here is another bias blog to fill your bias mind on what is in the headlines in America and other countries. How we emphasize money, fame, and technology and other places emphasize war, bombings, slaves, and leaders. Not to say that other countries don't portray what we do....but I must keep with my blogging one-sidedness.


What have you seen in the news lately?

Playfulness

I took my work to the park yesterday. It was the perfect temperature to sit outside and get work done without being distracted by my computer, my music, or my phone. I sat next to the lake where it was almost empty because everyone else was at their appropriate place of work; except some high school students who where cussing fish left and right as they carried their fishing poles all around the lake.

After work, I moseyed down the road. I passed a picnic that was mainly made up of Elderly people, I desperately wanted them to offer me some of their hot dogs and burgers. I wanted to talk with them and join in the conversation, or make conversation for that matter. I daydreamed about that scenario for a bit of my walk. Then I reach my goal....

I put my bag down and sat in the swing. Looking slightly to my right I saw the sun hitting off the lake and the hillside....I swung as high as I could go before I got slightly dizzy (that happens to me a lot). It was great fun and I felt like I was four years old again.

I believe this needs to happen more often. We need to play more. I swung and pondered this concept of play and how it restores us. There is something really important to swinging on swings and daydreaming of scenarios. Of chuckling at yourself and having fun in the process.

Goodbye Junior

So I am suppose to be doing a lot of work right now. But as everyone knows it is mandatory and inevitable that we will always be distracted, even if it is self-inflicted. So be it.

In my distractions this early afternoon, I wanted to post about a new purchase and another dull step into adulthood. Yes I traded in Junior (as I so lovingly called my blue ford focus) for a Subaru Impreza Sport, 05'. Junior was not a Jr. anymore, quite the opposite. He was becoming a feisty old man who sporadically staled on me a few times, decided to no longer provide air conditioning, and did not want to cruise with his cruise control. There are a myriad of other issues that Junior was developing and in that I decided he needed to go elsewhere on his journeys with, of course, a blessing. I did like that little blue guy. He was faithful and diligent. In his formation of arthritis I did not want to hurt him anymore. So we parted ways, it was a sad moment in history. Me and him go way back, there are a lot of memories there...

So I was at the dealership deciding whether or not to make the trade. Key phrase, "I was still deciding", when in fact my father went there with full intentions to make the trade...period. There was a LARGE list of "how's" running through my head. Like, How am I going to be able to pay for this? or How come we need to pay with money, can't I barter or something!? Anyway..the deal was done and I'm sending my check in the mail today. These things make me nervous, especially when it happens so quickly. I am learning about down payments and upfront payments and blah blah blah....

I told my mother I can't wait to go to heaven, and not be so burdened by money and these things. She said "I can wait for you to go to heaven!" I was touched, but assured her that I meant, " I can't wait for us all to be in heaven together".... later in retelling that story to my father, she added a piece by saying "I can wait for you to go to heaven, I don't want you leaving us all your car payments!"

There it is. Now I need a new name for my silver Subaru.... any thoughts? It took me five yrs to name Junior. Maybe he will remain nameless for awhile, until something memorable happens.

For But A Moment

I just got back from taking a sudden road trip to Corry, Pa with three of my very good friends. It was us, music, conversation, and the road. We arrived to a weekend of relaxation and refreshment. Have you ever visited someplace where times does not seem to exists? Where circumstances and life seems to pause for but a moment. yeah.

Arts Fest Buzz

The word concerts came to my mind twice this morning. And in the midst of this I thought of how much money I have I then thought of the Arts Fest and it's "freeness" and entirety.

My friend Jason has posted about the Three Rivers Arts Festival and in my excitement and hopes of making it down to Pittsburgh I wanted to share. I don't know how pumped I am for the musical artists that are coming in but I think that Martin Sexton's performance may be worth a shot:

• Sat, June 2
• Martin Sexton
  with special guest Jon Check at 6pm

And this "Swoon!" performance looks some what intriguing:

• Swoon! June 14-17 @ PPG Place
  

Are there any days that some of you may definitely go to? Anything that I should keep my ear and eyes attuned to? How about other good concerts that are going on, I don't think Club Cafe has a good selection thus far....? Or how about Concerts in the Park at Hartwood Acres?

Apologies

For those of you who checked my blog, about two days ago, I want to post an apology. Apparently my coconut oil post below was embedded with an image that I deleted immediately. I just wanted to add a small picture of a coconut to enhance the blog post. So for those of you who think of me as some sick-o, I am not, the picture was embedded with pornography and all I saw was a coconut...there was a time lapse and then "another" picture popped up. I do not and never will promote porn.

Thanks to some friends of mine who brought the matter to my attention. I deleted the image immediately... For those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I can hear you laughing a bit...it's ok to mock me, but just be glad you have no clue what I'm talking about.

You Put the Lime in the Coconut and You Stir Them Both Up

"People on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea have found their own solution to high energy prices - the humble coconut.... They are developing mini-refineries that produce a coconut oil that can replace diesel."

Coconut Power

Diving in Dumpsters

Did a little dumpster diving tonight. It is amazing to see what students throw away. Lamps, fans, nice material, rugs, shelving units...etc. One of my students said that she got a desk, and another switched his own desk for the one that was outside the dumpster because it was nicer than his own. One year they got a laptop and brand new Timberland shoes!

Anyways, I was a bit disappointed tonight with the selection. We did not get that much, and yet maybe that is a relief that there was not too much good stuff tossed as garbage. It is sad to see that we just throw these things away. And then again I sat for four hours on Sunday, at home, going through all the 'junk' that I have saved since I was practically born. Sometimes you have to part with the marbles you've kept since second grade...you just have to close your eyes and tell your mother "do it, just throw them away, I can't look."

How do we conserve things and yet at the same time live the simple life? How do we distribute these good and not just thrown them away?







ps. dumpster diving is to be done at your own risk,, I am not encouraging or discouraging it...just looking at how we waste and hoard "stuff". Around college dormitories you honestly never know what you can dig up, or even if it is worth it. We didn't go to far in, but I could only imagine.

The Dance of Closing

We got a X M Satellite Radio today in the shop. It's official and playing right now as I speak, I hope, I heard it earlier in their today when I was to meet a student.

So tonight, I go, I close, I listen, and hopefully the shop will be somewhat busy as students pack up to leave for home and put in a a few more finals. I may be making MANY MANY milkshakes and Esspresso Chocolate Shakes (they are yummy, I must say). And some of you know how I feel about this.... (I'm getting over it!!)

Either way, I hope that as I close I can find a station that is "close worthy"...this is very important for a closer in any type of business. I need to find something that doesn't 1. creep me out 2. cause me to fall asleep in the middle of mopping or 3. cause me to sing and dance so much that I forget that I am even closing. It would be nice to have something upbeat enough, dance-able enough, and sing-along worthy enough. But I am not going to be picky here, no, no...


no.

Street Art

the Wooster Collective

Can I buy the sun?

I remember my friend telling me he called the star agency and asked them if he could buy the sun. The lady on the line told him that there are millions of other stars, and that the sun is not for sale. He asked why? She just said that it was not. He asked if they owned the stars? She said they sell them. And he asked again if he could buy the sun because it is a star. When he didn't get the answer he was looking for he asked to speak to the manager. They had a long conversation about why the sun is not for sale and about why they own the stars when in reality they don't...

This story fragmented into my head the other day when my boss walked in and said we cannot have any more open mic's in the shop because this place called and said that they can slap a fee on top of the business, basically they can sue us and we have to waive the fee in court and prove that we did not play any of their music. They do not even have to step foot into our shop to press charges because apparently "EVERY store/business in America plays their music at LEAST once a year." (that's very prideful)

My question is whether or not artists receive any money from their songs? Plus, now, how do we foster musicians to be musicians if a local business has to pay ridiculously large sums of money for a licensing fee?

It just seemed to me that money was more important than being an aid to foster musicians to create. Just like the numerous starts in the sky, do we have a right to sell these? Are the stars seeing the money that has sold them to other's loved ones?




...

Light Hearted

Makes me Sick to the Stomach

Sadness

Just for Starters

So.... in theory all of your CD's, Mp3 Files, or any other existing files that holds some type of music disappears. Basically they become irretrievable! You are able to, at this point, only pick up FIVE Cd's to start building your collection again:

1. WHAT FIVE CD'S WOULD YOU START WITH?



Lets apply this to literature as well. Say everything that is in written form becomes instantaneously lost....

2. WHAT FIVE PIECES OF LITERATURE WOULD YOU START WITH?




As a caveat: I understand that music and literature are not the most important, nor should they be, vital to daily life. They add to the richness of who we are as people, the ability to create, and foster growth. I think these two, at least for me, speak a lot into where are culture is, where it was, and where it is going. Literature and Music are beautiful and should be sought after yet not idolized or worshiped. Now we can carry on...

Easter

I fail to reflect on this day. I get caught up in the frustration with family; the beauty of homemade pasta, meatballs, stuffed peppers, etc.; the loud yelling of my relatives (we are Italian); the poor coffee and excellent homemade wine; and the long drive back home.

I fail to reflect on what this day truly means. On the very truth that it is a day that symbolizes the very essence of why I am living!

Last year I sat in a study with eight other individuals and around this time we decided to stop studying 1 John for a stint and look at John's account of Jesus' last days on earth. We picked and prodded at the text, we looked at the parallels of the Old Testament blood sacrifice and blood covenant, at the events that lead up to His death, at what was going on between the Romans and the Jews, and at the details that often times get overlooked when we read through this account.

I loved it. I loved soaking up the details and seeing parallels to the Old Testament. I miss being there, of being challenged through these people. This is my reflection, an end to another Easter. Time with family is sweet and bitter all at the same time, strangely enough I see the same two words going into this time in history. And so the day is about over and I am about to retire. It was nice to reflect for but a moment.



Thank You and Goodnight.




EDIT: This should not be a "holiday" nor a one time reflection. It should be daily and foundational to everything we live and breathe. soak it in

The Day Off...

I started this day with a friend from College, we sat over breakfast and reminisced...or at least I did. She is still in college and I just longed to be back there for a moment in time. It was nice.

Then I set to the task of doing laundry and downloading 40 songs from eMusic. A friend of mine gave me his songs for the month as a gift and also he said, in his words exactly, "i'm sure you could use all 80 before you think twice." It's true... but it is a stressful task to think of 40, let alone 80 songs. Stressful b/c I have to narrow everything down to what I want and get the best for the gift I have been given. Thanks to Jason Panella I was able to get some ideas and the push I needed to start. THANKS Jason!




So this is what I have decided to get:

M.Ward, Post-War

Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday

Neko Case, song: Sparrow
Neko Case played at Festival of Faith and Music o7', I decided to download Sparrow because I remember her performance and this song stuck with me. Something about the way she held her voice was beautiful. Jason has a great video and summary of her performance here.

The Decemberists, songs: Everything I Try To Do, Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right; Pt.I/Pt.II/Pt.III/Pt.IV/Pt.V

Andrew Bird, song: Self-Torture




Now, you see, I potentially have 40 more songs to go for next month....I do think though, that my friend (*cough you know who you are) should widen his music interests and use these 40 songs for himself. So if you have any suggestion of MUST HAVE songs or cd's PLEASE PLEASE let me know... I have a list that is a mile long, but I am having a hard time shortening it and if you can't shorten it why not ADD to it?!





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My Weekend

The Bomb Diggity

I was at the shop today when a regular came in. He is an international student that comes quite frequently to the shop. Today he happened to be all dressed up for one of his classes. I commented on his attire saying, "You look nice today, all dressed up..." Linda, the lady that I was working with, also commented on his attire. I went to wash dishes as they continued to have this conversation about how nice he looked. I heard her then say "The word that I would use would be 'spiffy', but that is an old person word." I retorted saying "I still use that word!" ...

Than bantering of word usage went back and forth. All for the purpose of giving this young gentleman an appropriate English word for his vocabulary.

I said he should use the English word "nice"
Linda asked what was hip for a younger generation to say. Then she proceeded to use the phrase "he's the bomb"
I said "bomb-diggity"
Then Nancy,another worker who was sitting down, chimed in saying other various words.
I said "phat, like p-h-a-t", Nancy laughed really loud and copied my "west-side" hand movements and Linda just repeated "phat"

At one point I finished the dishes and joined in the conversation at the counter. In the corner of my eye I saw other patrons laughing and glancing up at us. One, who was in the other corner of the room chimed in and added a few words that his friends use in Philly, such as "pimped" and "jazzed".

We settled on "jazzed" cause Linda liked it a lot.


There is something about this scene that caused me to truly laugh out loud and love what and why I am doing what I am doing. A place that causes people to join in and be a part of the conversation.

Gathering the Brains while Laughing

I must edit some of the wordage in my last post, I agree that my vocab was bit off. Being a tradesman is not "mindless labor." Dave in the comment below (from my previous post) made a good point and I agree quite strongly.

I think I made a lot of assumptions about this trip at large. One that I would be so lifting, shoveling, and running around in crazy circles all week. I thought that the labor side of the trip would be so intense that I would be sore all over. Instead I painted a lot, climbed a few ladders, did some roof painting and patch work, and yeah. It wasn't what I was used to or wanted out of a "missions" trip. I wanted to process, work real hard, analyze, and think about where I am with ministry, what I am doing, and why!?

I was pleasantly surprised though. I am glad that what I wanted was never stumbled upon. My abs got more of a workout than any other part of me. My brain stopped functioning, except for the hilarious side of me (which many people don't know it, but I am funny...maybe.), my tear ducts where in full function (as I cried with laughter), and I did not process, think, analyze or figure anything out--besides being reminded that I need to chill out and rest/laugh a bit more.

Only a few people can pull this side of me out. Which is interesting how some have that effect on us and others do not. Weird.

This is a filler post. But things that I am thinking about as I try to gather my brain and get back into some type of functioning order....

Ramblings about Mindless Labor and the Sorts

It has been an extremely busy past couple of days. The weather is throwing me for a loop and I agree with my friend Jason; my place is cold and I am excited for spring (even though we did not really have a winter).

I will be gone for the next week or so. Going to Mississippi because the damage is still deep and families are still struggling. I'm looking forward to roofing and construction. I love doing these activities and oddly it is extremely rejuvenating for me. I think many of us have forgotten what hard labor is or how our bodies are meant to be physically fit. I'm not talking about going to the gym but more so about a way of life. It's funny how we have to schedule in exercise, schedule in breaks, schedule in downtime. I think these things happened naturally back in the day, or even now in other places across the world. Some of us have lost a piece of what labor is/was.

When I worked, doing physical labor, I tended to think more. I did that often when I shoveled tons of mulch or spreading gravel. It's a mindless job but my brain was sharp and active because of the mindlessness of the labor...and in the end it was refreshing. Same with walking everywhere, it allows one time to think and relax. Driving makes us angry at the car in front of us and causes us to scream profanities (no experience here, no no, not any...)

So off to Mississippi I go. Hopefully the warm weather will follow me back when I return. It will be my gift to all of you.


Sorry for the rambling post. But sometimes these are just as necessary as talking about art, literature, and the other. Enjoy.


EDIT: take a listen and a read. Arcade Fire came out with a new album and I think they may be on to something. It seems very dark and the lyrics seem very deep. I only heard one song though and looked on their site, so my thoughts are very elementary.